For the past several years, Oswego State’s Student Association has had the same system of handling clubs’ and organizations’ annual budget requests, but this year is the pilot of a new zero-based budget system.

In the past, SA budget council looked at the past budgets, membership and in the case of club sports teams, the success of their season. According to SA Director of Finance Miranda Kryskow, the change in process is meant to end legacy funding and to make sure clubs and organizations are receiving only what they need. 

“A zero-based budget is really meant to help with equality and efficient budgeting,” Kryskow said. “It’s forcing clubs and organizations to give strong rationales for why they are asking for what they’re asking for.”

Kryskow said she hopes the zero-based budget will save SA $200,000, which is how much the SA budget went into the red last year. This means SA had to reach into its reserved funds to make up for the budget dipping. With this in mind, SA plans to cut that amount as a whole from every club and organization. 

“If you’re not spending your money efficiently, and you’re not having plans for it, you’re not going to get [that] money,” Kryskow said.

Every club and organization requested their budget via Google Forms, except the four organizations with the highest budgets: SAVAC, WTOP-10, WNYO and The Oswegonian, which had to present their budget requests to the budget council in person. Kryskow said it was necessary for these organizations to rationally explain their costs and needs.

 Using Google, as opposed to Laker Life, allows SA to keep a record of budgets. When budget requests were done via Laker Life in the past, Kryskow said the records could not be saved because Laker Life needed to be wiped each year.

New clubs who achieve SA recognition are capped at $1,000 for their first year of official operation. After that, they may request more based on their goals and financial needs. According to Kryskow, Oswego State has one of the smallest student activity fees and provides one of the largest budgets in the SUNY system.

The new system, according to SA President Omar van Reenen, will help bridge the gap between men’s and women’s club sports teams and provide equal opportunity to succeed. Last year, spearheaded by van Reenen, the Equal Pay for Equal Play movement erupted and brought to light the budget gaps between men’s and women’s club sports teams and the budgets’ violation of Title IX, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity,” according to the Oswego State Title IX webpage. 

“The new funding model is about opportunity,” van Reenen said. “The zero-base budgeting is not only going to solve Equal Pay [for Equal Play] and bridge the gap, but it’s going to allow both men’s and women’s club sports to have those same opportunities.”

Last year SA averaged out the club sports men’s and women’s teams, which made the women’s sports teams receive the same funding amount as their male counterparts. The teams affected by this change included rugby, soccer, volleyball, baseball/softball and ice hockey. All club sports men’s teams but volleyball experienced a budget cut, and their women counterparts all received a budget increase. 

The women’s rugby budget went from $7,300 to $13,775, which allowed the team to purchase new uniforms and equipment, rent space in the Romney Field House and to also take part in more scrimmages and tournaments, according to President Sabrina Shortall. 

“Having the bigger budget this year definitely made all the difference for us,” Shortall said. “Because of the budget, we were allotted a lot more opportunities that we wouldn’t have otherwise had last year.”

Shortall said, as a result of the increased budget, the women’s rugby team advanced to become top eight in the nation when they competed in a tournament in Ohio. She said the team will compete in four or five tournaments this spring and will be able to register two Oswego teams, allowing 30 players to participate. 

“If we hadn’t had the funding for it, we would have had to forfeit those games,” Shortall said. 

Shortall said the new budget process was smooth and required them to research what they needed and provide proof of cost. While they did not request more than what they received this year, they did take into account that they would like to purchase a camera to record their games and the travel expenses they expect for tournaments. 

The women’s club ice hockey current vice president and incoming president, Maddie Block, said their increase of $22,199 allowed for the team to join the ACHA Div. II league, where they can play against more competitive teams. They were also able to pay for coach buses to take to away games. For next year’s budget, Block said the team is asking for about the same amount it has now. She said the most important expenses they will have next year is paying for league dues and replacing their old equipment as a safety precaution. 

“We have a lot of old gear,” Block said. “It’s just not safe. Some of the helmets have expired, and after you get a concussion in a helmet, you can’t have the same helmet. It’s just a safety precaution that we need new gear.”

When SA averaged the budgets for the men’s and women’s club sports teams, the men’s club ice hockey team took a budget cut of $8,500. This caused players to pay more out-of-pocket and fundraise for expenses such as ice time and paying officials, according to head coach Christopher Timmons. 

“I think we also need to shed light on the fact that there may be clubs that are in different phases in terms of structure, organization, community outreach and participation,” Timmons said. “I agree that each club should have equal opportunity to grow and prosper each year, but that also needs to be earned through progression and results, not just given.”

Timmons said, with the new budget process, it requires more details and documentation support, whereas, in the past, they just had to submit a PowerPoint with a few details. He said, with the new system, they are asked to provide actual documentation, which will help organizations and teams get the funding they actually need.

The team has asked for about the same amount they received two years ago before the Equal Pay for Equal Play movement, which was $37,500. Much of the budget includes expenses for transportation, hotels, officials, ice time and league fees. The budget items also included trainer fees and supplies.

“Hotel is something we would like to have covered as normally our players pay out-of-pocket for hotel expenses,” Timmons said.

At the Women in Leadership Conference March 12, van Reenen and members of women’s club sports and SAVAC signed in the Equal Pay for Equal Play resolution to become a bill. 

Graphic by Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian